Dylan Covey Elects Free Agency

Right-hander Dylan Covey, who was outrighted off the Mets’ 40-man roster last week, has elected free agency, per his transaction log at MLB.com. The Mets never formally announced his decision, but Covey wasn’t included on the team’s list of the 67 players who’ll participate in major league camp this morning. (Infielder Luis De Los Santos, outrighted at the same time as Covey, was on the list.)

Covey, 33, signed a split big league deal with the Mets back in late October that would’ve paid him $850K in the majors or $350K in the minors, per the Associated Press. Since he has fewer than five years of MLB service, Covey would forfeit any guarantees on that deal (presumably just the minor league split) by rejecting the assignment and going back to the market.

Covey hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2023, when he logged a sharp 3.77 ERA over 43 innings between the Dodgers and Phillies. That year’s 15.7% strikeout rate was way shy of league-average, but Covey’s 8.9% walk rate was close to average and his 54.3% ground-ball rate was very strong. The right-hander had spent the 2021-22 seasons pitching in Taiwan for the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s Rakuten Monkeys, and he returned with a sinker that sat at 95.1 mph — an increase of 3.1 mph over the 92 he average in 2020.

The Phillies saw enough to keep Covey around in arbitration, tendering him a contract in arbitration and signing him to a one-year deal. A shoulder strain wiped out the bulk of his 2024 campaign, however. Covey didn’t pitch in the majors and logged only a combined 20 1/3 innings in the minors. His 2.66 ERA across multiple levels was strong, however, and Covey backed that up with a decent 22.6% strikeout rate and a mammoth 66.5% ground-ball rate (albeit against an ugly 10.7% walk rate).

Covey’s overall body of work in the big leagues isn’t great. He has a career 6.18 ERA in 307 1/3 MLB innings. That said, he pitched well in Taiwan (3.63 ERA in 198 1/3 innings), came back to North America throwing harder and has now had some degree of success in the big leagues and upper minors with a revamped pitch repertoire. He’s throwing far more sinkers and cutters since returning stateside and has scrapped his four-seamer and curveball entirely. Covey seems to rather clearly be a different pitcher in his early 30s than he was when he was getting hit hard with the White Sox and Red Sox in his 20s. He can provide another club with some depth in the rotation and/or in the bullpen as a long man.